Round balers (commonly known simply as “balers”) of the prior art generally have a bale forming chamber defined by walls of a housing and an apron formed by an array of side-by-side belts, transverse slats trained on chains, a plurality of rolls or a combination of these various elements (e.g. rolls and belts). Cut crop material, such as straw, hay, and the like, is picked up from the ground by a crop pick-up assembly as the baler moves along a field. A feeder assembly then takes the cut crop material and feeds it into the bale forming chamber, which may be a fixed or variable chamber, where the cut crop material accumulates and is compressed by a bale forming apparatus to form a cylindrical package of cut crop material, commonly referred to as a “bale.” The bale, while it is in this compacted and formed state, is wrapped by a bale wrapping apparatus with a wrapping material such as twine, a net, a plastic film, or the like. The end result is a wrapped, form-sustaining bale, typically round or cylindrical in shape, that is ejected from the bale forming chamber onto the ground for subsequent handling.
A baler that has a pick-up assembly, a rotatable conveyer for feeding the cut crop material into a bale forming chamber, a fixed bale forming chamber (i.e., a chamber that does not vary in size), and a bale wrapping apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,050 to Vande Ryse et al., which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,324 to Feraboli et al., which is also incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, discloses a round baler having a variable bale forming chamber. Although not specifically disclosed by the reference, round balers having a variable bale forming chamber utilize a conventional bale wrapping apparatus in the typical manner.
One problem with the prior art balers is that there is no mechanism for indicating when the wrapping material stored by the bale wrapping apparatus is getting low. Typically, the wrapping material is manufactured and stored on a roll or reel so that the material, such as twine or net material, has a different and noticeable color change when the roll or reel is nearing the end of the material. In this manner, a person operating the baler can see that the wrapping material is running out by looking for a color change in the wrapping material via a window in a wrapping material storage box, or by seeing a color change of the wrapping material on the bales as they are deposited on the ground during baling operations. However, this requires that the baler operator remains vigilant, continually looking for color changes in the wrapping material through the storage box window or by watching for the color change in the wrapping material on the deposited bales. Due to other distractions during machine operation, baler operators may miss the color change and the baler will run out of wrapping material in the middle of a baling operation.
Hence, there is a need for a more convenient and effective mechanism for indicating when the amount of wrapping material carried by the bale wrapping mechanism is running low. More particularly, there is a need for a low wrapping material indication mechanism that generates a visual and/or auditory signal on a display in the operator's panel conveniently located relative to where the operator is positioned in the tractor.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved baler that includes an improved mechanism for indicating when the amount of wrapping material carried by the bale wrapping mechanism is running low that overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art balers.
A further object of the present invention is to overcome the limitations of the prior art balers that utilize relatively crude methods for indicating when the amount of wrapping material is running low in the baler.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a baler with a more convenient and effective mechanism for indicating when the amount of wrapping material carried by the bale wrapping mechanism is running low.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a baler with a mechanism for indicating when the amount of wrapping material carried by the bale wrapping mechanism is running low by generating a visual and/or auditory signal at a display on the operator's panel conveniently located relative to where the operator is positioned in the tractor.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a baler with a mechanism for indicating when the amount of wrapping material carried by the bale wrapping mechanism is running low that is both durable and reliable.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a baler with a mechanism for indicating when the amount of wrapping material carried by the bale wrapping mechanism is running low that is practical and cost effective to manufacture.